Tech Review: USB Mini Archade Basketball

When TheFeed got this spectacular gift from our girlfriend this past Valentine's Day, we weren't sure what to think. Sure we love basketball, and we love being distracted from actual work, but would it be as fun as the box suggests? And why wasn't a laptop included with this item that retails for $24.95? And why was arcade spelled the Flemish way on the box? And why make it USB powered?Our questions were soon answered with a resounding "YES." Once we figured out that the idea was to bounce the ball off the neighboring desk surface, it became obvious that we would be spending the next few days upping each other's scores from 9-6 with an hour for lunch. This quickly faded after about ten seconds and we all went back to work.

With three modes of intense gameplay, ("2 mins.," "Continuous," and "Off") this little must-have of PC peripherals even tops the Chinese "Funktime Dunktime USB Archade" that we reviewed back in 2006. And that one was endorsed by Yao Ming.

But back to the box, which actually provided more fun than the game itself. Here now the text from the orange bubble on the back of the box meant to entice you into making this purchase: "Now you can play arcade basketball right at your desk with the Desktop Dunk. No more waiting in lines at busy arcades, and you can take this anywhere you go... That's right! Taking it to the hole has never been so easy. [Hanging on the rim is not allowed!]" The box also puts us at ease by letting us know that it runs on Windows XP and Mac OS X… ha!

All in all, your love of pointless distractions at work might be well-served if you can find this item at a lower price point, like $1. It's nice to be able to take a break from the rigors of playing little flash games online to just shoot around in the world of the real, and despite what the box says, we hangin on the rim all motherF day.